Make better recordings in your home studio.

The tones from the Line 6 dual tone tour were curiously not included in the factory presets of POD X3. Eventually the creator of the guitar tones did make them available as a bundle. Working with bundles can be a bit cumbersome, especially before the dawn of Gearbox for POD X3. Now that we have Gearbox, it has become possible to access the tones individually. Here are the fabled spiritguitar presets from the dual tone demos. Give me the spiritguitar Gearbox presets

Reverse reverb is an interesting technique that can give some extra power to well chosen song sections. In the days of reel-to-reel or cassette recording the effect was somewhat involved, requiring flipping the tape and careful calculation of which track you would record to in order to avoid overwriting another important track. In the days of the modern home recording studio we are a bit more spoiled with our computer powered DAW and software plugins. To illustrate this effect, I’ll show you how to apply it to make a simple 4/4 drum part sound much more dramatic. Show me the reverse trick

Here are the Gearbox compatible preset files for the extra factory presets in POD X3. The zip file should extract to a number of folders, each matching the name of a preset folder of POD X3. The introduction of Gearbox software for POD X3 is a great help to the home recording studio. Adding Gearbox Plugin to your POD X3 gives you the full capability of the Gold Bundle with all the guitar, bass and vocal amp models. Give me the presets

Mixing is certainly a specialized craft but I believe in learning all I can about my craft. Much of my time is occupied by reading about mixing, talking about mixing, thinking about mixing, and actually mixing. This page is intended to serve as a resource for finding some interesting mixing related material to help you hone your own craft. Our home studio is our playground and there are many books available to help us learn the ropes. Show me some mixing books »

In the spirit of my analogue vs. digital article, it is time for another Mythbusters style debunking session. Today we are going to explore the common misconception that higher sample rates equate to better sounding audio. There is no shortage of rhetoric by self-proclaimed internet experts that by simple matter of dropping a faster processor into a digital unit that you’ll get better sound. This, they claim, is due to having the horsepower to run at higher sample rates. These experts believe that higher sample rates will give better sound with no tweaking of the underlying algorithms. Is it true (and does it matter to the home recording studio owner)? I would like to know

Jamstix 2 is a VST drum plugin that is more than just a drum machine. This plugin is an entirely customizable virtual studio drummer. You can get very precise if you want to work that way, but the more impressive aspect of this software is to use it more like you might communicate with a human drummer. Tell him the arrangement of your song and what style you imagine. Then just keep asking him to change the riffs here and there until you hear a groove you like. If you need drum tracks in your home recording studio that are more individual and more human than midi loops, Jamstix 2 is for you. Let’s take a look at what it takes to get a basic groove going. Show me the Jamstix 2 way